


you've got ten more thousand miles to go (because you're one of the living)

by MYuzuki



Category: Naruto
Genre: (don't worry it doesn't last long at all lol), (the temporary character death is kagami's), Canon-Typical Violence, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Temporary Character Death, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Uchiha Kagami time travel fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:15:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28439718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MYuzuki/pseuds/MYuzuki
Summary: It all starts with a wish.Well, actually that isn't entirely true. Technically it starts with a betrayal, when Kagami is stabbed in the back by someone he'd thought he could trust.Technically, it all starts when Kagami dies.
Relationships: Senju Tobirama & Uchiha Kagami, Senju Tobirama/Uchiha Kagami
Comments: 32
Kudos: 184





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so! This story happened because 1) I was reminded of the fact that there is a truly tragic shortage when it comes to Tobirama/Kagami fics but also specifically Kagami Uchiha time travel stories and 2) my brain decided "hey, let's write it!".
> 
> On a somewhat related note: I've entirely given up on trying to make sense of Kishimoto's timeline, particularly in regards to how old certain characters are when certain events happen or even just how much time passes between certain events (especially when it comes to the Clan Wars/Founders' era), so I'm just going to do what I want, lol. As a result, you may notice that some characters in this story have had their ages tweaked, or certain events might be spaced out differently than canon implies. Since the canon timeline is basically a dumpster fire when it comes to anything that took place before Naruto's birth, I don't think anyone will really mind; just thought I'd mention it just in case. ;D
> 
> Story title comes from a Tina Turner song called One of the Living. Released in 1985, it was originally recorded for Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome; anyway, it's a totally epic song and if you have 5 minutes and 59 seconds to spare I strongly recommend listening to it.
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoy the story!

**you** **'ve got ten more thousand miles to go (because you're one of the living)**

* * *

It all starts with a wish.

Well, actually that isn't entirely true. _Technically_ it starts with a betrayal, when Kagami is stabbed in the back by someone he'd thought he could trust.

Technically, it all starts when Kagami dies.

One moment he's out on a fairly routine mission, trying to pick up the trail of a former chūnin who'd supposedly stolen some sensitive documents from one of the archives before fleeing the village, the next moment he's face-down on the forest floor, choking on his own blood and wondering where it all went so wrong.

"Why," he croaks out, furious and accusatory as he cranes his head back to stare up at someone he's never thought to be wary of.

(They've grown distant from each other in the years since Tobirama's death, their friendship taut and fraying like an old rope stretched to its limits, but even so Kagami hadn't expected something like _this_.)

"For the good of the village," his killer says, and then everything fades to darkness.

 _This isn't fair_ , Kagami thinks as shadows eat away at consciousness, angry and heartsick and aching because he knows better by this point than to expect life to be even remotely fair, but _still_.

But still.

 _I wish I could change things_ , he thinks, and means more than just his own death.

He thinks back to the day of Tobirama's death, and all the dark days that had followed. If there was ever one thing that Kagami would sell his soul to change, it would be that.

It's been almost three years, and Kagami's done his best to carry on like a good little soldier, fighting for the greater good of the village like Tobirama would have wanted. He'd even caved to his Clan Elders' demands to get married and have a child to continue his branch of the Uchiha bloodline, despite the fact that his stupid, stubborn heart is still hopelessly fixated on one impossible man in particular, a white-haired genius with an infuriating smirk and the driest sense of humor Kagami has ever encountered.

Truly, the only thing sharper than the edge of Tobirama's sword was his tongue, and Kagami misses him so fiercely still that it's like an inferno in his chest, threatening to burn him alive from the inside out.

He's gotten good at keeping it hidden, that terrible fiery grief, because otherwise it'll swallow him whole and everything he'd sworn to protect along with it, but now…at the moment of his own death, he sees no point to smothering those flames. There's no one to hide from now, and he'd never been very good at hiding his feelings for Tobirama in the first place.

(It's all the more painful because of all the possibilities there had been between them , all the what-ifs that had never been realized, each and every one of them cut short by Tobirama's death.

Kagami has done his best to move on, but the truth is that he's never stopped mourning.)

And so he thinks back, and he regrets. _I wish I could change things_ , he thinks, and _I wish I could change_ _ **everything**_ , and it makes his eyes burn with something more than tears.

He has just enough awareness left to feel a sharp tug deep in his chest, followed by a lurching sensation, and then he loses himself entirely as consciousness flees and his mind goes blessedly silent.

Then, abruptly, the silence is broken, and he jerks awake to the all too familiar sounds of battle cries and clanging weaponry.

Scrambling up off the ground, his instincts register that he's smack-dab in the middle of a battlefield before his mind can fully catch up, and he finds himself reaching for the weapons pouch at his waist before he makes any conscious decision to do so.

Even with a kunai in his hand, however, clarity is hard to come by _because he has absolutely no idea what's going on_.

Because he just _died_. He's pretty damn sure of that, despite the fact that he feels perfectly fine, other than a lingering ache in his lower back, just to the left of his spine.

And yet here he is, standing amongst the chaos of an active battle, complete with mangled corpses strewn out upon the ground and broken weapons littering the the muddy earth between them.

Even more befuddling (and disturbing) is _who_ he sees fighting.

He stares at the vicious fighting that's taking place around him, profoundly confused because these are Senju shinobi and Uchiha shinobi _battling each other_ , when there hasn't been open fighting between their two clans since Hashirama and Madara had finally come to a truce almost a decade ago.

It makes _no_ sense, none at all.

(He vaguely wonders if this is some sort of bizarre afterlife; if so, he'll admit to being rather disappointed. He'd been expecting the Pure Lands, where he could perhaps reunite with his loved ones. Or at least a pleasant sort of non-existence after a life spent fighting and struggling towards a better future for the generations yet to come.

And this? This is not that. Whatever _this_ is, it's nothing at all like what he was expecting, and he would emphatically like to get a refund, thank you very much.)

Then he spots something out the corner of his eye, an all-too-familiar flicker of blue and white, and he pivots to follow the movement on instinct, Sharingan whirling to life to catch every detail.

And his heart stops in his chest because _that's Tobirama_.

Which is entirely impossible, because Tobirama is _dead_. Kagami knows that, because he was the one to find his friend's body after. Was the one to press shaking fingers to the pale skin of Tobirama's throat, desperately searching for a pulse. Was the one who had carried that body back to Konoha, even as his eyes had burned with tears and his heart had felt like a leaden weight in his chest.

Tobirama is dead, has been dead for years now. Which makes it entirely impossible for him to be here, flitting across an equally impossible battlefield.

Kagami wonders if this whole thing is all some sort of edge-of-death hallucination, some figment of his fading mind conjured up by blood loss and heightened emotions. Maybe he's still bleeding out on that forest floor, broken and betrayed.

Except, Kagami realizes as he has to lunge sideways to avoid a random Senju's sudden sword thrust, this battlefield is _very_ real, not some phantom war-zone conjured up by his overactive imagination.

He quickly blocks the next sword strike and twists the Senju's sword out of his grasp to disarm him, then uses a shunshin to remove himself from the situation entirely; he has no idea what the hell is going on, but he's pretty damn certain killing a Senju shinobi isn't the right first move on his part.

Instead, he heads for the last place he'd seen Tobirama, because at the end of the day that's always the direction he'll go in; if there was a compass inside his soul, it would point in one direction and one direction only, and it wouldn't be north.

And so he makes his way across the battle field, dodging blows and parrying strikes from Senju and Uchiha alike, since neither side seems to recognize him in the slightest.

Then he spots who Tobirama is fighting against , and realizes why.

 _Izuna_ , he thinks, pure shock making his heart lurch in his chest, because he'd never met the Clan Head's younger brother before the Uchiha heir had fallen in battle but even so there's no doubt about who he's seeing.

Senju Tobirama is battling against Uchiha Izuna, and a tidal wave of horrified realization crashes over Kagami as he watches them dance around each other with deadly intent, swords glinting in the sunlight.

 _This is_ _ **that**_ _battle_ , he realizes, and it doesn't make any sense but he can feel the truth of it right down to his bones.

This is the battle where Tobirama slays Izuna. Where he uses his Hiraishin for the first time in a true combat setting, teleporting himself with fuinjutsu to get past Izuna's defenses and strike him down.

It's something Tobirama had expressed some regret about, later on. Only ever to Kagami and only ever in private, but still.

"It was war," Tobirama had said to Kagami one night, as they were nursing some hot sake and gazing up at the constellations in the sky from Kagami's back porch. "If I hadn't killed him, he would have killed me. And yet, sometimes I wonder…"

"Wonder what?" Kagami had prompted, when his friend had trailed off into silence.

"If Madara would have stayed with the village," Tobirama had murmured, "had his brother yet lived."

 _If I hadn't killed the last living member of his immediate family_ , he hadn't said, but Kagami had heard it in his voice, the edge of frustration that came from questioning one's choices and whether or not you'd made a situation worse rather than better with your actions.

"No point wondering about it now," Kagami had replied after a long moment of contemplative silence, aiming for a pragmatic tone. "We can't change the past."

"No," Tobirama had agreed with a sigh. "We can't."

Except here Kagami is, standing on a battlefield he'd never seen in his first lifetime. Standing _in the past_ , and it's utterly impossible but also utterly undeniable.

For better or worse, however, he doesn't have time to linger on the impossibilities of the situation, because Tobirama and Izuna are still fighting, and if he doesn't intervene then things are going to proceed just as they had the first time around.

And he can't say for certain _why_ he's here or even how it happened, but he has a nagging feeling that it's for a reason, that is has something to do wish his last desperate wish of wanting to _change_ things.

And if he's going to change things, he reasons, might as well start with something big, even if he's not sure what sort of ramifications will ripple out from the change.

 _Alright_ , he thinks, resolve crystallizing into something sharp and determined in his chest, and flings himself forward just as Tobirama vanishes from sight in a crackle of light. _Let's do this._


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everyone! Welcome back! Thank you all very much for the amazing feedback on the last chapter! I'm absolutely thrilled with the response this story has gotten so far; it's really exciting to see how many other people are interested in seeing a time travel fic where Kagami is the primary protagonist.
> 
> Anyway, today we have Chapter 2! In which we switch to Izuna's perspective, because I love a good outsider perspective, lol. That being said, I had a REALLY hard time with this chapter because I love Kagami but writing time-traveling!Kagami from Izuna's perspective is HARD, lol.
> 
> (Also, sorry for the delay in updating! And thank you for your patience!)

**Chapter 2**

* * *

Izuna is a shinobi, and as such he's seen a lot of things, both good and bad; he's fought in more battles than he can count, lost track of how many times he's survived impossible odds on nothing more than stubbornness and luck, and all in all while he follows his older brother and hopes that Madara's vision for peace will someday come to pass he thinks it's far more likely that they're all going to die gruesome deaths like all the generations of Uchiha before them.

They're shinobi, after all, and it's a violent world they live in.

Even so, he's not particularly eager to _actually_ die, because that's a terribly permanent thing and he knows his death would utterly destroy his brother. Because Madara is strong, the strongest shinobi Izuna has ever met, but even his resilience has its limits and all of Madara's dreams of peace are rooted in his love for family and clan. If Madara loses that…well, Izuna doesn't think he'd want to see what his brother becomes.

And so he always gives it his all during battles, fending off attacks from Senju shinobi who seek to take his head and weaken his clan. More often than not lately, he ends up battling against Tobirama during the skirmishes between the Senju and the Uchiha, because they're evenly matched for the most part, not unlike their brothers.

Except then Tobirama pulls out a kunai that's etched with an unfamiliar seal, and Izuna can't quite help the feeling of dread that curls down his spine at the sight of it, even though he can't pinpoint any particular reason for his unease.

Then his opponent activates the strange seal with a small flare of chakra, and Izuna has one moment to feel a sharp spike of fear as Tobirama vanishes from right in front of him, leaving nothing behind but a crackle of lightning and the scent of ozone.

The next thing he knows, Tobirama is directly behind him, all icy determination and killing intent, and even Izuna with all his skill isn't fast enough to react and bring his own sword up to block the Senju's attack.

 _I'm going to die_ , he realizes, the horror and fury brought on by the thought mingling together and creating a sick knot in his stomach even as he curses himself for not being faster, not being _better_.

Except then, just as suddenly, there's another shinobi there. Dressed in vaguely familiar black gear but with a wholly unfamiliar face, he slides between Izuna and Tobirama between one blink and the next, blocking Tobirama's strike with a kunai and in all likelihood saving Izuna's life in the process.

Izuna has a split-second to feel a fierce surge of gratitude before his battle-honed instincts catch up with him and he lunges around his mysterious rescuer to attack Tobirama, intent on taking advantage of the Senju's brief moment of shock to finally take him down and remove the threat he poses to Izuna's clan.

To his immense surprise, however, he doesn't make it more than a single step forward; there's a muttered curse from his saviour, furious and unspeakably annoyed, and then suddenly there's a hand fisted in the collar of his shirt as he's yanked backwards, away from Tobirama.

"Will you both please just _stop_ ," the stranger says, and there's an unmistakably plaintive note in his voice underneath the blatant frustration.

A scoff from Tobirama as his grip on his sword tightens, looking for all the world like he's about to sweep his blade forward again.

"Tobirama, _stop_ ," the stranger says, an exasperated sort of familiarity in his tone that draws both Izuna and Tobirama up short.

"I don't know you," Tobirama says after a moment, red eyes narrowed and tone faintly accusatory but with a hint of curiosity underneath.

The stranger meanwhile gives an imperceptible flinch, blanching ever-so-slightly before he recovers his composure.

(For his part, Izuna doesn't think he's ever seen someone go through all the stages of grief in a split-second right in front of him before; he can't decide if it's fascinating to see or simply gut-wrenching.

There's a whole world of emotion buried in the stranger's eyes, a depth of feeling that leaves Izuna breathless for all that it lasts only a fraction of a second before it's buried beneath a mask of polite stubbornness.)

"Whether you know me or not doesn't matter," the stranger says, and there's an edge to his voice that Izuna can't quite parse, something a step sideways from wounded but also shaded with a furious sort of grief. "What matters is that I'm not going to let you two idiots kill each other."

"Who are you calling an idiot," Izuna squawks, torn between indignation over the insult and vindictive amusement over Senju Tobirama, the most brilliant shinobi of their generation, _also_ being included in the insult.

"You say ' _let_ us'," Tobirama cuts in, "as if you think you're actually capable of _stopping_ us."

Izuna slants an irritated grimace over at his Senju counterpart because that was _definitely_ a smidgen of condescension in his frosty tone, just a few shades away from an outright challenge, and even Izuna has enough of a survival instinct to not go provoking mysterious shinobi who have spontaneously inserted themselves into his life in the middle of a vicious battle.

To his immense surprise, however, the stranger doesn't seem angry or annoyed; rather, he seems strangely entertained by it, letting out a rough bark of laughter that cracks in his throat, so sudden that it takes all three of them by surprise.

"I did a decent job of stopping you just now," the dark-haired shinobi says pointedly, the shadows of sadness in his eyes fading slightly as one corner of his mouth curls up in a wry smile.

"A fluke," Tobirama replies instantly, giving an offended sniff that for some reason reminds Izuna of those damnable snow leopards that the bastard loves to summon. "I did not anticipate someone being able to track and intercept my Hiraishin."

The stranger's smile twists into something unreadable before he shakes his head with another jagged huff of laughter. "It's a good thing for both of you that I did," he remarks, dark gaze flickering past both of them to take in the surrounding carnage of the battlefield. "There will never be true peace if you kill Madara's last surviving brother," he says next, refocusing on Tobirama with a level of intensity that makes Izuna take a step back on instinct alone. "You're a smart man, you _know_ that."

Tobirama stiffens, mouth tightening in a barely-suppressed scowl as his grip tightens on his sword. "This is _war_ ," he snaps, voice as sharp as his blade. "Mercy has no place here."

"I'm not your brother, I don't give a shit if you're merciful or not," the stranger retorts, genuine annoyance flickering across his expression before it's buried beneath the same veneer of carefully constructed calm. "I'm just asking that you use your _brain_ , genius. You really think Madara would go along with Hashirama's plans for a peaceful future if you killed his baby brother?"

Tobirama's scowl intensifies but before he can open his mouth to say something that will only serve to irritate their mystery guest further, Izuna intercedes.

"You say that like my brother is the only obstacle standing in the way of peace," he says irritably, increasingly aware of how other shinobi nearby are starting to come to a standstill to gawk at the three of them (he supposes it must be quite an interesting sight, him and Tobirama exchanging words rather than blows, but do they really have to _gape_ like that). "But the Clan Elders are the ones refusing to so much as entertain the idea of peace talks between our two factions."

"Oh, trust me, I'm aware of the shortcomings of the Uchiha Clan Elders," the stranger says, and this time that swiftly buried edge in his voice is definitely anger, deeply felt and undeniably personal.

Izuna opens his mouth to point out that the Senju Elders are just as much a part of the problem as his own clan's elders, but suddenly a hail of shuriken comes ricocheting at them from a nearby cluster of shinobi in unmarked armor. Before Izuna can do much more than bring his sword up in a defensive parry and register that Tobirama is doing the same, the stranger's eyes swirl, irises spinning into red and black as he pivots on one heel and calls up an enormous fireball that he hurls across the battlefield, blasting away the shuriken and scattering the opportunistic shinobi as they go leaping away, all but flailing in their desperation to get out of the literal line of fire.

(No one else attempts to take advantage of their distraction after that.)

"You're an _Uchiha_ ," Izuna blurts out, somewhere between awe and horror because he should have _seen_ it, should have _realized_ , why didn't he realize?!

(Madara is _never_ going to let him live it down, not if they miraculously live to be a hundred, and Izuna is the same as every other little brother in the world in that there is very little he likes _less_ than his brother having something to lord over him for the rest of their days.

He consoles himself with the knowledge that he once saw Madara choke on his morning tea so badly that he literally turned purple; as petty counter-arguments go that one has yet to fail him.)

"Of course," Tobirama snarls, leveling his sword towards the other Uchiha, all of his former curiosity buried under a surge of icy wrath like a village buried under a cascading avalanche. "I should have realized it the second you saved Izuna."

"I also saved you _from_ Izuna," the stranger points out, his black-and-red gaze fixated on Tobirama's face like he's committing every line of it to memory.

(No, Izuna realizes with no small amount of confusion, not as if he's committing it to memory. As a lifetime Sharingan user himself, he knows what that looks like, and it isn't whatever _this_ is, fierce and longing and with that same bitter edge of grief that's been shading half the things this stranger has said.

No, this is as if the stranger is seeing a familiar face after a long separation, comparing the man in front of him with the image in his mind.

But that doesn't make _sense_ , and it makes Izuna's head hurt too much to think about it so he dismisses the thought as too much sleep deprivation on his part; he's probably just imagining things.)

"I'm here to stop you two from killing each other," the unknown Uchiha says now, "and put an end to this war while I'm at it."

Izuna feels his eyebrows fly up towards his hairline. "You're an Uchiha," he says again, then, "As an Uchiha, you're beholden to the Clan Elders. And they won't listen to reason where this war is concerned." Because Izuna loves his people, loves his clan, but the Elders are so reluctant to let go of the animosity between the Uchiha and the Senju that it would almost be laughable if it weren't so tragic and frustrating.

There's been so much death on both sides, enough to give even a madman pause, and yet the Elders cling to their bitter grudges and decades of hate with an intensity that almost reeks of desperation, along with what Izuna personally suspects is a fear of change.

"I'm beholden to _no one_ here," the stranger snaps. "Least of all _them_." He seems to rein his temper in with an effort of will, taking a deep breath before he speaks again. "They may not listen to reason," he continues, voice weary but tinged with a steely sort of determination that makes Izuna's spine straighten on instinct alone, "but they will listen to me."

"And who are you," Tobirama challenges, voice frigid like the northern mountains in the dead of winter, "to issue such dictates?"

The stranger's determined expression cracks, fades into something borderline heartbroken before it's buried under wry amusement, the amusement of his crooked smile not quite reaching his eyes. "Me?" he says, voice jarringly friendly despite the hint of sadness underlying his words. "I'm nobody." A pause, then, "But you can call me Kagami."

Then the mysterious bastard vanishes in a flutter of leaves, leaving Izuna and Tobirama both staring at the place where he'd been standing just seconds before.

"Well," Izuna says slowly, once more painfully aware of the fact that Tobirama is less than five feet away with an unsheathed sword, "this is not at all how I expected this day to go."

Tobirama gives no real verbal response beyond a vaguely disgruntled snort of reluctant amusement, but given the circumstances Izuna's willing to take that as a win.

(He still beats a hasty retreat back to the Uchiha compound, though, because contrary to what this Kagami person thinks he is _not_ an idiot, thank you very much.)


End file.
